To bad your not closer to me. I can buy sod centipede or Bermuda for 125 a pallet.

 

You'll need to lime to fix pH ,it looks like you got a step program for fert , consider adding compost and organic to improve soil
What kind of soil?

 

I've already added some lime. I'm not sure what kind of soil. Whatever crap fill dirt the builders decided to ship in I guess. Full of construction trash.

 

Not on Centipede do you need lime. If anything, pH above 5.5 means sulfur is needed. You also do not want to apply phosphorus to Centipede. Apparently, the agronomist reviewing the raw soil analysis has not maintained much Centipede. That program he laid out is more suited to St Augustine.

 

Yeah the guys from Site one talk a big game, but I'm not sure they have a clue sometimes. What would you recommend from this point going forward?

 

Also going forward make sure 1.0" of rain per week and lower your deck of your mower for centipede. Do the basics! Greendoctor elaborate on cutting cent for him.

 

 

If you don't want to buy a pallet--shop Home Depot and local supply frequently and get some centipede sod when it is still fresh.

Meet with a local owner-operated lawn company for expert advice. He will have the ability to diagnose Herminth or brown patch. He will have a better fertilizer program designed for your irrigation situation, soil and grass type. You probably want more fertilizer than usual until it fills in--then cut back to a program specifically designed for centipede. He will explain mowing and irrigation requirements.
Potash (potassium, K) is water soluble and potassium chloride (KCl) has chlorine which is bad for centipede. You don't want a big shot of potassium all at once, as it will be lost due to sandy soil, water solubility and steady irrigation. You need a fertilizer designed specifically for centipede with a little potassium each time--potassium sulfate only. Costs more and worth it.
http://www.clemson.edu/extension/hgic/plants/landscape/lawns/hgic1215.html

 

What is your watering schedule?

 

Right now I'm running my irrigation every three days or so. I hose down the seeded spots every night. I would like to see if someone in my area can do me a shallow well so I can run it every night, rather than use the city water.

 

Here's a link on centipede grass I assumed it liked a neutral pH. I'd get sod since that was originally used overseed if it's thin but bare your better off with sod
http://extension.uga.edu/publications/detail.cfm?number=C1003
http://www.walterreeves.com/lawn-care/centipede-poor-greenup/

 

That last link validated one of my maintenance practices for Centipede. I mow at 3/4" with a reel. Do not like rotary mowers on warm season grasses except St Augustine.

 

I'd get any debris out that you find and add compost top dress and into the bare areas before sod.Thumbs Up

 

The weed in your picture looks like wild raspberry

 

I've heard that and also the rose family. Any idea how to get rid of it? I yank every one I see, root and all. They're super long roots too!!! Every single yard in my neighborhood has them.

 

do not use weed n feed or any weed spray on centipede. it will kill it or damage it because technically it is a weed. you don't need to anyways since centipede chokes out all the weeds on it's own. just leave it alone. that is the best advice. it will take care of itself. it will spread and fill in the bare spots. just give it time it doesn't happen overnight. also fertilizing centipede is tricky. you have to find the right portions of things. honestly there is no need to fertilize centipede. only water it if it isn't raining very much. centipede is a very, very low maintenance grass. that is the whole beauty of it. it takes care of itself for the most part.

 

Centipede becomes very low maintenance on acid soil, not too much nitrogen at a time(I do not believe in applying high rates of N at once), and low mowing. If other vegetation is becoming aggressive, that is normally due to alkaline soil, too much N, and high mowing.

 

Hit post too soon. Other factor is high phosphorus soils. If soil either is inherently high P or else someone has added it, Centipede does poorly and other vegetation becomes dominant. High rates of Iron and Manganese will act to tie up high phosphorus. Likewise high P ties up micronutrients. I commonly see high P when the previous fertilizer program involved usage of 16-15-15 AG fertilizer instead of a turf specific fertilizer.

 

Would that be true on Bermuda lawn also? Someone had a post about a week ago on a bad Bermuda lawn and that's the first thing I said

 

Yes. Same is true of Zoysia as well. Both Bermuda and Zoysia need more P than Centipede. However, I have attended to many lawns where P was in excess and micronutrients were ignored in the program. Soil pH was always too high. Visible effect was a lack of response to more NPK. Lawns were pale and thin until pH was adjusted along with micronutrients.

 

Thanks I have seen over fert and sour pH cause problems and the people throw more fert at it

 

I got called into a case of Bermuda not being responsive to fertilizer applications. Soil pH was 5.5. NPK in soil was maxed out. Agronomist reviewing the test results called for 50 lb of lime per 1000 sq ft. I did it and applied 10 lb of hydrated lime as a liquid suspension. Grass turned greener than green and stayed that way. Soil testing is a good start prior to applying anything to an underperforming lawn. Of course interpretation and response to the results is another matter.

 

Thanks for sharing the Bermuda lawn post had high phos, high pH and low n with a slow release put down and no irrigationThumbs Up

 

That would explain the poor performance. An opposite case was a Bermuda lawn with pH over 7.5. Correction involved acidifying the soil by any means necessary. DF sulfur normally used as a grape fungicide was added to a liquid fertilizer mix containing 1 lb per 1000 sq ft citric acid. Grass turned green and stayed green. Who says pH does not matter? In a landscape turf situation, I do not want to be testing the limits of what grass can get by on. Because I am not there every single day to nurse it through multiple stresses. My objective is to work towards optimal conditions. I am a skeptic of the MSLN method of turf management. It keeps grass under starvation conditions.

 

Hope they know that if your soil pH is 5.9 that is actually on the borderline of needing sulfur. The sulfur I am suggesting is because you already put lime on the lawn.

 

So you think I should get some sulfer for it? Will that effect the grass seed I planted? Also, someone mentioned not to use weed and feed because centipede is a form of a weed (which makes sense). As far as fertilizer goes what do you suggest?

 

Yes, mow it low. Centipede is normally a grass I mow at non play height. Which is 3/4". That gets done with a Toro GM1000 with an 8 blade reel.

 

So I contacted my builder today and asked nicely if he would uphold some kind of warranty on my yard, even though I am two months over my year. I told him I wanted to give the sod a year to take, even though it had signs of struggle last summer. My warranty was up in February but the grass was brown then so I honestly didn't know. I assured him I wouldn't need more than a half pallet since it would just be my front yard. We'll see what he says tomorrow. :wall

 

What I prefer to do is apply a combination of potassium nitrate, ammonium sulfate and micronutrients as a spray monthly.

Is this in the form of a brand of chemical/fertilizer? Or do you gather and mix the ingredients yourself? I would like to know what it is and rates and mixes if you're willing to share here or PM

 

This is something I formulate from its respective components. Per acre: 50 lb ammonium sulfate 50 lb potassium nitrate 6 lb FEature 6-0-0. This is to be applied in at least 200 gallons per acre if no irrigation will occur immediately after application. Note what is not in it. No urea. No potassium chloride.

 

I've read every reply to this post as I too have a centipede lawn and I too have been helped by the responses from other members with a special thanks to greenDoctor. Your response (greendoctor) above makes me wonder though; why no urea? My spring fertilizer recommended by the extension service following a soil sample was to apply 33-0-0. All I could find at that formulation was 33% nitrogen with 10% being derived from ammoniacal nitrogen and 22% being derived from urea nitrogen. It also contained 12% sulfur (presume that is good). I understand the no potassium chloride part and when I apply potash I do not use potassium chloride salts which are apparently bad for centipede.

In a separate response greendoctor mentioned that "What I prefer to do is apply a combination of potassium nitrate, ammonium sulfate and micronutrients as a spray monthly". Can you tell us where you find that? I was able to find the micronutrients online in a liquid formulation and have started using that... waiting to see results yet. I also wanted to ask about the monthly fertilizer applications. Everything I've read about centipede is to NOT fertilize it frequently. I believe (greendoctor) you're in Hawaii and probably get a lot of rain as we do here in South, coastal Mississippi. Our soil is sandy and with all the rain I'm pretty sure we loose nutrients rapidly so I'm going to adopt a plan of monthly fertilizing like greendoctor recommends.

BucNut912, I lived in Augusta, GA for two years, and depending on your rainfall, please do let your centipede completely dry out. I'm convinced that my bare/dead areas were, in part, caused by my sprinkler system missing areas of my lawn (since corrected).

BucNut912, DO NOT apply any more lime to your soil. My extension service advised me to do the same when my pH was 5.5 and were TOLD that the sample was for centipede grass and they still recommended liming it. My relatively poor performing lawn became a lot worse after following their recommendation and applying lime. Now, I'm trying to get my pH levels back down to what centipede loves.

On my bare spots, that look suspiciously like yours, I've treated for insects, fungus and reworked my watering schedule. I then aerated the bare areas, turned the top layer and used a good brand of centipede seeds. I'm very, very pleased with the new growth in these areas, both from the seeding and from existing grass growing into it (runners). I really wanted to re-sod but got caught up in other projects and didn't go that route. I was going to buy plugs from seedland but missed their spring deadline and they were sold out. I have taken plugs from other areas of my 2 1/2 acres and put them in my bare areas and that really helps.

Others advice on weed control products is also spot-on. I use(d) 2,4-D but it does yellow the centipede. I'm using Celcius now and it seems a bit more gentle on the centipede. I still have a horrendous problem with spurge but spend my free time pulling it up by the roots which is, strangely, very satisfying

Your pictures show a very nice lawn... a lot like my front yard. Best of luck to you in getting that 'perfect' lawn which I'm also trying to achieve. Oh, and down here we call that weed a blackberry/dewberry bush and pick them (the berries) around Mother's Day. I've got them everywhere around my perimeter and their suckers/runners come up everywhere.

Lastly, I DO NOT BELIEVE centipede is the lazy mans lawn!!!

 

This is the stuff Site One recommended. It's definitely organic that's for sure. I put it down Monday evening and have been watering my yard nightly too. We've also had a couple good soaking rains so that helped. I cut my grass two days ago taking about an inch off. I'm sitting at about 2" right now. I made sure to mulch all of the clippings so they would sit nicely in the bare spots.
It seems like there is new grass trying to peek through in the middle of the bare spots, but nothing creeping on the sides. This site is badass full of information so I'll make sure I update everyone every so often on this thread.

The man at S.O. Said to stick with my routine they have me doing for fertilizing regardless of the condition of the sod. So far where the sod is thriving is some primo stuff. It's just getting the bare spots to grow in.

I believe sometime this month they have me scheduled for the 28-0-3 so that'll be the next thing I apply. I'm hoping this stuff I just put down does something because I feel like the stinkier the better

For now I will continuing watering the two zones for the front yard every night for 30 minutes each and see if that makes a difference. I'm feeling more positive than ever. I've added another picture of my yard this morning. I'm going to take a picture every couple days to see if there are any changes.

 

From what I have read of centipede it's also known as lazy mans grass because it's a slow growing grass and doesn't need mowing that often so don't expect it to fill in the bare spots quickly maybe tr cutting smaller pieces from less visible areas and transplanting into the middle of the bare spots so the grass then is growing from both directions I have had successes doing this with Kikuyu lawns

 

Land has a good idea. Cut small plugs from other parts of the lawn and move them to the bare spots. Let them creep out and fill in. The more you do the faster it will fill in. Keep the soil moist of course. Two-inch square would work fine. Trade for 2 inch plugs of soil from the bare spots if you want--probably not necessary.
I am using this method to fix a couple snow plow injuries in my yard this week.

 

@MSlawnman
What kind of spurge are you dealing with?